Releasable toilet seat assembly

Abstract

A mount assembly releasable mounts a toilet seat and cover to a toilet base. The assembly includes two fasteners permanently affixed to the toilet base engaged by deflectable arms of one or two base members of the mount assembly. The arms engage ring mounts disposed about the fasteners, flexing outward slightly during mounting and dismounting achieved by a simple horizontal sliding motion. When connected, hinged covers snap onto the pair of arms to cover the fasteners and prevent deflection of the arms and thus separation of the base member(s) from the fasteners.

1. An assembly for mounting an attachment to a toilet base, the assembly comprising:
 a fastener extendable through a rear extension of the toilet base; 
 a base member adapted to support the cover in pivotal fashion, the base member having a pair of essentially horizontally extending deflectable extension arms defining in part an opening for receiving the fastener, wherein the base member is connected to and disconnected from the fastener by deflection of the extension arms so that the base member is removably attachable to the toilet base; and 
 a cover hingedly connected to the base member and pivotable between an open position in which outward deflection of the extension arms is permitted allow the base member to be connected to the fastener and a closed position in which outward deflection of the extension arms is restricted to prevent separation of the base member from the fastener. 
 
   
   
     2. The assembly of  claim 1 , wherein each extension arm has an inwardly facing catch surface. 
   
   
     3. The assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the cover is hinged to the base member. 
   
   
     4. The assembly of  claim 3 , wherein the cover is linked to the base member via a living hinge. 
   
   
     5. The assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the cover positively engages the extension arms. 
   
   
     6. The assembly of  claim 1 , further comprising a ring mount disposed about the fastener engageable with the extension arms. 
   
   
     7. The assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the fastener comprises a bolt extendable through the opening in the base member and a hole in the rear extension of the toilet base, and wherein the assembly further comprises a nut positionable on the bolt underneath the rear extension of the toilet base. 
   
   
     8. The assembly of  claim 1 , wherein there are two such fasteners and two such base members. 
   
   
     9. The assembly of  claim 8 , wherein the two base members are joined together. 
   
   
     10. The assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the attachment is selected from the group consisting of toilet seats, toilet covers, and combined toilet seats and covers. 
   
   
     11. The assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the base member can engage the fastener via an essentially horizontal relative sliding motion.